Most jellyfish drift freely in the ocean current but the dangerous box jellyfish is an active swimmer. To help it navigate, the box jellyfish has 24 eyes that dangle from their cube-shaped bodies. One set of eyes is remarkably well developed and can detect color, size and shape, similar to our own eyes. At Lund University in Sweden, researchers recently set up a jellyfish obstacle course to test their vision and were surprised by how deftly the box jellyfish were able to avoid objects in the tank. However, their ability to jump through flaming hoops left much to be desire
Clearly there will be a Eukenuba jellyfish competition in the near future. Box Jellyfish,
Class Cubozoa
Because jellyfish belong to one of the first groups of animals to evolve eyes (the phylum Cnidaria), understanding how their eyes operate will show scientists what eyes were like early in evolutionary time.
"Cubomedusae", from Ernst Haeckel's Kunstformen der Natur, 1904
Comments
these animals are awsome
Posted by: Katie Haynes | March 6, 2008 2:30 PM
good info...and kind of spooky
Posted by: yoa | June 18, 2008 9:46 AM